Trade and investment between Vietnam and France will benefit from the Viet Nam-EU Free Trade Agreement (VEFTA), thanks to the market that will open up and the cuts in most taxes, according to Nguyen Canh Cuong, Trade Counsellor at the Vietnamese Embassy in France.
Cuong said over the past years, the value of Vietnam's exports to France registered an average annual growth of 5-7 per cent to 2-2.5 billion Euro (US$2.26-2.825 billion) a year, while its imports from the European country reached about one billion Euro ($1.13 billion).
The VEFTA was expected to help reduce many taxes that the EU imposes on Vietnam's products to zero, leading to improvement in the competitive ability of Vietnamese exports in French markets as well as other EU countries, the official said.
The FTA would create favourable conditions for importing more goods from France as well as other EU countries that Vietnam's market needs, including beef and apples.
Cuong said the VEFTA would provide a good opportunity for Vietnam to speed up its economic restructuring efficiently, focusing on advantageous products and reducing high production costs.
